A 24-year-old woman employee of Infosys was murdered at the suburban Nungambakkam railway station in front of commuters waiting for their trains.
Swathi, a software engineer, who works at the Mahindra City campus of Infosys near Paranur, was dropped at the Nungambakkam railway station by her father Santhanagopala Krishnan, a retired Central Government employee, at 6.30 am. While she was waiting for a suburban train, a man reported to be in his 40s, approached her and the two had an argument. According to eyewitnesses, Swathi walked away from the man but he attacked her with a sickle and hacked her to death in front of the horrified onlookers.
The victim died on the spot even as the murderer disappeared into the crowd that did not even make an attempt to stop the man from leaving.
Police believe previous enmity could be the reason behind the murder. The identity of the murderer is yet to be established, as the suburban station, though one of the busiest on the Beach-Tambaram route is not under CCTV surveillance. However, police are examining the call records of Swathi and recording the statements of her colleagues and friends.
In another bizarre incident, the Chennai Police on Friday found bodies of a woman and her three teenaged daughters from a rented house in the city. It is believed that Pandiammal (38) and her three daughters Pavithra, Parimala (18) and Sneha (16) were murdered by Pandiammal’s husband Chinnaraj (36) who works as a sweet stall assistant.
The three daughters were from Pandiammal’s early marriage. She was working as a housemaid at Pazhani when she met Chinnaraj and fell in love with him. The duo got married in 2012 and shifted to Chennai where both found work.
The murders were believed to have been committed either on Sunday or Monday as the house remained locked from Monday. Neighbours alerted the police following a foul smell emanating from the house since Friday. The bodies were decomposed beyond recognition. Chinnaraj has been detained by the police and a probe is on.
Chennai saw four lawyers getting murdered in four different incidents during the last one week. Though all murders were attributed to reasons arising out of personal rivalry and Kangaroo courts, it has sent shockwaves all over the metropolis.